Mission Statement

Canadian Catholic Campus Ministry (CCCM) is a national network of professional Catholic campus ministers, grounded in the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church, inspired by the vision of Vatican II. CCCM exists to bring the Gospel of Christ to the academic world through a national network; the ministry of the National Coordinator and the Board; publications, programs and other means of sharing resources; national and regional Campus Ministers’ and Students’ conferences.

CCCM has its roots in the early Catholic Colleges in Canada, dating back over 200 years. His Eminence Cardinal McGuigan was its first Episcopal moderator in 1946. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) named the first National Chaplain in 1948. The Canadian Catholic Student Association (CCSA) is intrinsically linked to the CCCM by history, mission and spirit. It is a member of one of the oldest international student movements, the International Movement of Catholic Students (IMCS). CCCM is recognized as a private lay association of the faithful by the CCCB (2011).

Given That:

Our mission and ministry flow from our baptismal identity with Jesus Christ who is known to us in our experience and in the gospel tradition which calls us to live out the paschal mystery by proclaiming and building the Reign of God.

The focus of our specific ministry is in responding to the spiritual needs of the university community both in its institutional aspect and in its individual members.

Our university campus ministry involves a mediation between the Church and the civic society in which we live.

The universality of the Church and the civic society are in a profound state of transition with no foreseeable closure or change.

The university community, the Church and our Canadian society require our attentiveness to the justice, multi-faith and gender equity issues of our era.

The Mission:

Reflection: To surface, clarify, articulate and make explicit the inchoate consciousness of the spiritual dimension in the university community in order to elicit the recognition of the Mystery of the Divine Being, both Transcendent and Imminent, in the university community.

Action: To participate in and be catalysts of the transforming humanization of the university community, both as an institution and as individual and interrelated persons.

We commit ourselves to this mission through a ministry that is liberating and collaborative.

The Central Elements of this Ministry:

Journeying with the University Community and its members in their brokenness and pains, healing and joys in the struggle of a liberating movement from all oppression to the freedom of our humanity as intended by God. This ministry of presence – “loitering with intent” – is our unique means of accompanying. Through this journeying, the Reign of God breaks into our university community and we experience the Paschal Mystery in our lives.

Prophetically calling the University and its members to humanizing, transformative and liberating activity. The healing and educative aspects of this prophetic role, which links life issues to the reality of faith will be accomplished through listening to those prophets in our midst who call us to conversion, by joining with them in raising ethical and moral issues, especially those involving social justice; by working with and empowering oppressed and peripheral people; by promoting inclusivity, in particular, the equality of women in the Church and in the university. We witness above all to the truth, the cost of which is redemptive for the university community and in our own Paschal Mystery.

Creatively celebrating life especially in the liberation effected in the university community through struggles and failures, hopes and accomplishments, within a framework of the contemplation of the Mystery of God especially as lived in the paradigmatic Paschal Mystery of Jesus and as remembered, made present and anticipated in its fullness in glory in the Eucharist. We will witness to creative celebration in our acceptance of life as a sacred and free gift from God, in our joyful and funfilled moments of play, in our living dialogues, in the nurturing of healthy and holistic attitudes about spirituality and in the building of freedom seeking communities (liturgical, scientific, literary) throughout the university community. Once more the Reign of God will break through.

Modelling a collaborative way of ministering, of service to the university community and the Church. We know that the starting point for our ministry is the needs and life realities of the present generation and we acknowledge that we learn from the wisdom of those to whom we minister – students, faculty, staff and administration. Our teams of clerics, religious and laypersons, male and female, will be the model and goal of our collaborative ministry. Our teams need to witness to the Reign of God by being just, by being mutually supportive of different charisms and open to ministering with persons from diverse spiritual backgrounds.

Gathering together a visible faith community that is leaven and light in the university, to foster and form a community of faith where the Word of God is proclaimed and enfleshed, where authentic love and intimacy exist, where identity is enabled and belonging and welcoming are a priority, where healing and wholeness are possible and where each is moved to acts of love, caring and service.